Automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) often receive communications from a buried wire disposed along a guide path. This type of communications system is inductive. With more sophisticated AGVs, however, both guide path information and communications information must be transmitted to and from the vehicle from remote locations. Two or more floor loops are often provided for carrying such signals independently to or from the AGV. Each floor loop has an oscillator which generates a signal at a predetermined frequency. Unfortunately, when the floor loops intersect with one another, there is a potential for both the guidance and the communications signals to destructively interfere or otherwise cancel each other. This can result in a loss of communications that is detrimental to overall system operations.
An AGV system using inductive communications is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,987,540, issued to Walter Luke, Jr., on Jan. 22, 1991, entitled: "AUTOMATIC GUIDED VEHICLE SYSTEM HAVING COMMUNICATION AND TRAFFIC CONTROLLER WITH UNGUIDED PATHS," the teachings of which are herein incorporated by way of reference.
While elaborate schemes have been suggested for separating the guide path and communications signals, and for reducing the likelihood of destructive interference between them, no practical solution has yet been found.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide a system for decreasing, or eliminating the likelihood of destructive interference between two signals in an automatic guided vehicle inductive communications system.
It would also be advantageous to provide a fool proof and simplified automatic guided vehicle inductive communications system.
It would also be advantageous to minimize the likelihood of inadvertent potential for destructive signal interference in an inductive communications system for AGVs to a short duration, i.e., on the order of milliseconds.